Action needed

Because the threat posed to the Great Lakes by invasive Asian carp has been beyond urgent for several years, the message of a newly-introduced bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate is welcome: Hurry up.

Because the threat posed to the Great Lakes by invasive Asian carp has been beyond urgent for several years, the message of a newly-introduced bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate is welcome:

Hurry up.

The Stop Invasive Species Act, introduced by Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, and Democrat Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, would ramp up efforts to protect the lakes from the giant, ravenous fish that are upending the ecology of lakes and rivers they’ve reached, displacing other species and spoiling many recreational uses of the waterways.

Another bill introduced last year, the Stop Asian Carp Act, required the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come up with a plan to permanently separate Lake Michigan from the Chicago Area Waterway System, which artificially connects the lakes to the Mississippi River watershed.

Asian carp, or DNA evidence of them, have been detected perilously close to the lake, and a study by the Corps showed that the waterway is the nation’s primary migration route for aquatic invasive species. Along with the carp threatening Lake Michigan, at least 30 invasive species in the lakes are considered at high risk to migrate in the opposite direction, into the rivers.

Current plans call for the Corps to take until 2015 to complete the plan — a long time to allow the determined carp to keep trying to crash at the gates.

The new bill calls for the Corps to expedite the project, with a progress report due to Congress in 90 days and a full report required after 18 months.

It also would direct the Corps to devise barriers all across the lakes at 18 points of entry.

The bill has the support of groups that have worked tirelessly to protect the lakes, including the Great Lakes Commission, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Alliance for the Great Lakes, the Healing Our Waters Coalition, the National Wildlife Federation and Trout Unlimited.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, is a co-sponsor, along with Democrats and Republicans from other Great Lakes states.

The Great Lakes lawmakers are right to press the issue. They’re fighting to protect not only a priceless natural resource and the world’s greatest repository of fresh water, but a bonanza of jobs and tax revenue for their states. Ohio alone boasts a Lake Erie tourism industry worth $10 billion annually; the region’s fishing industry tops $7 billion per year.

At least one Asian carp already has been spotted beyond an electrical barrier that was put in the Calumet River as a temporary measure. The Great Lakes region can’t afford to waste time defending against this menace.